Pierre-Yves Lanthier's Reviews
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town – Switch Review Overall though, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a great addition to the series and will easily appeal to longtime fans as well as newcomers. With plenty of options of how you want to go about your days, you’ll easily see the real world clock jump hours ahead of the last time you saw it and even debate playing for “one more day” before calling your own day quits to get some sleep for your own next morning. ----- Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Review (PS4) Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a fantastic experience. Whether you are looking for something to casually hold your attention in a soft roll of days forward or have grander ambitions in mind with wanting to grow all of the crops or raise all of the adorable livestock and be outstanding in your field, this is for you. Score: 9 / 10
Saviors of Sapphire Wings Even if I felt like it took me a while longer to get into the swing of things compared to their previous work, Saviors of Sapphire Wings is a decent dungeon crawler. Do I wish they did more in regards to the visual presentation to make it unique and not simply a reuse of previous work? Yes. Can I live with it? I can and with the value of Stranger of Sword City – Revisited it’s even easier to do so even if I kept finding myself comparing one to the other. Stranger of Sword City – Revisited All in all, adventurers both new and old should find plenty of hardcore dungeon crawling action to love within Stranger of Sword City – Revisited. Even if it’s a lot tougher than most in its genre because of its permadeath, that’s simply part of the charm and frustration to this challenge!
So overall, even if the roguelike or roguelite genres are normally not your cup of tea, if you’re up for a good challenge and love the action adventure styles of adventuring, I would wholeheartedly recommend Curse of the Dead Gods. Fans of roguelikes and roguelites? If you haven’t already, what are you waiting for!?
Updated review - The Sinking City – PS5 Review https://chalgyr.com/2021/03/review-ps5-thesinkingcity.html So overall, The Sinking City's revamp on the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X is worthwhile if you've been thinking of giving this lovecraftian tale another go or had missed out on it the first time. With several upgrades and a new smoothness to the gameplay, going back for seconds alongside the added DLC was not a bad way to spend a few dozen hours. ---- Previous review - The Sinking City – PS4 Review https://chalgyr.com/2019/07/Review-PS4-TheSinkingCity.html So on a whole, while The Sinking City makes some great strides for investigative puzzlers, the open world that it tried to live in doesn’t really work. If you can get past the empty enough world and the clunky mechanics however, and there’s a gem underneath that is just begging to be explored and it’s worth the exploration.
Overall, Nioh 2: The Complete Edition for the PC was an amazing port from the Sony PlayStation 4 once you get the settings right. At this current point, I’ve played through the main campaign coming in just under fifty hours but as of yet I cannot comment on the three DLCs of The Tengu's Disciple, Darkness in the Capital, and The First Samurai. So because of this, I’ll be back shortly with another article covering the other three additions as they were originally extras to the main title and have their own sets of modifications and obviously twists and turns.
Overall, while Blue Fire does fall a bit more on the harder side of things which could turn some people away, it’s enjoyable and the challenges were welcome as it wasn’t simply another action, adventure, 3D Platformer. The skills that you learn only ever compile on top of one another and are never really just for the current set of challenges or dungeons that you find yourself in. As an added bonus, you look adorable while doing it!
Overall though, Squeaky Wheel Studio Inc have done a great job for even a newbie like me to have enjoyed my time with Academia: School Simulator. With loads of options and easy ways to put them into place, who knew building a school could both be easy and fun while also being the biggest nightmare that I’ve ever imposed upon other living beings?
Overall, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox sets up for some rather interesting possibilities to the eventual Ys X that I’m already stupidly excited for. The change of direction from the rest of the series and having Adol explore one city and its surroundings instead of unknown and untamed wildlands with loads of ancient runes and various villages and towns isn’t a bad one but I do hope for more of a mix of the two in the next adventure.
While I don’t generally sit down to horror, or horror like experiences, the Bloober Team with their atmospheric and psychological horror The Medium had me hooked from start to finish. With a very well paced story and solid mechanics that let you explore the run down resort that Marianne finds herself in, it was really hard to put down the controller as the secrets that often lay right around the corner just begged to be answered.
Overall though, Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy is an excellent sequel to Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout. While the refinements to the gameplay’s perspective of the adventure alone are worth the return, the return of the original cast and of the protagonist for another adventure was something that the series has been missing for a long time. It’s not to say that most of the sequels in the various trilogies weren’t worth it as Atelier Firis remains just about my number one entry, but seeing first hand the growth of the protagonist on their next adventure was something that this series needed and it did it very well.
On a final note, Shady Part of Me should have been on my Game of the Year list but with how late it was released, it sadly won’t be making it as I quite literally got to experience this tale this past weekend. It’s not a very long adventure, but it packs a punch both from the visuals and the musical score, to the emotions coming through both of your protagonists as they try to find the exit that they’ve been searching for together.
So on the note that it ends, I believe we can expect more unexpected quests in the future. In order to progress though, the series will need a few modifications to be done to the style in order to make it more interesting as the current formula gets a little stale after a few hours as the only thing changing was the stage layouts and puzzle aspects of what had to be done before what. Otherwise if you've been looking for something in the real time strategy vein that's been very slim pickings of late and are up for a little bit of puzzle solving, The Unexpected Quest may just be worth checking out.
Overall though, The Falconeer kept me coming back for more as it has both a relaxing and an intenseness through its combat that just hits a sweet spot. While I wish there was more to do in the world than simply accept missions and find points of interest to update on a map, the flight combat was a lot of fun to get into even if it often meant that I was getting shot down by pirates as I both learned the world and got my bird better equipped for the battles ahead.
New Review: Warhammer: Chaosbane – Slayer Edition – PS5 Review https://chalgyr.com/2020/11/review-ps5-warhammer-chaosbane.html November 30, 2020 Otherwise, Eko Software and Nacon's Warhammer Chaosbane - Slayer Edition is still a decent Hack & Slash and it runs fairly well on the PS5 though there were a few crashes here and there in the Fourth Act. Now with six characters for up to four players to dive in together, this is a perfect game if you’ve been looking for an alternative to the other Hack & Slashes that may be between “seasoned” content. ---- Original Review: Warhammer Chaosbane – PC Review https://chalgyr.com/2019/06/review-pc-warhammer-chaosbane.html June 12, 2020 All in all, Warhammer Chaosbane is a fun title that is both enjoyable to play alone or with a few friends. While it won’t be winning any awards for treading on unexplored ground, it’s both a solid experience and a tick in the right direction for the Warhammer series that seem to have one good title in every dozen. Well done!
So while Battle Hunters is a mechanically sound real-time strategy dungeon crawler with loads of traditional Dungeons & Dragons character types (and not so traditional space marines) to fight off hordes of monsters, that’s about all it is. With a singular quest in mind, there isn’t much to do other than move from one fight onto the next with nothing else to do in the meantime. It’s good at what it does but I wish there had been more to do with the world and the characters themselves.
So overall, I don’t think Liftoff Drone Racing will be for everyone but I do think that those that it was designed for will enjoy it. With plenty to enjoy from customizing your drones to flying them either casually or with your name on the line, there’s plenty of different ways to fly these fast and versatile machines at insane speeds.
So if like me you had skipped WRC 9 as you had enjoyed or are still enjoying WRC 8, I would honestly suggest taking a look at WRC 9 on the PS5 if you’ve already made the jump. From the solid off-road driving mechanics to the graphics and the sounds, this is one that I’ll be coming back to often enough if not to get better, then just to have fun.
So overall, for a launch title, Bright Memory even while super short and basically being a tech demo, for how pretty things can look and sound, is still an amazing fast paced experience. At twenty-five to thirty minutes per playthrough, and a total of three to get everything, I would say pick it up and enjoy it as it’s really hard to go wrong especially at its current price tag.
If you’ve been on the lookout for a good side-scrolling action adventure, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is worth looking into. Between the flexible combat system and the puzzle platforming, you have an interesting small scale farming simulator that only adds to the overall sense of accomplishment as it replaces most standard RPG experience level systems. Add in some humorous dialog and likable characters, and I think I found either my guilty pleasure or my pleasant surprise for the year!
So if you’ve been looking for a simple Brawler to take up some time and are in the mood for a few laughs as there is a fair amount of comedy along with the fighting, Uppers by Bullets and XSEED Games and Marvelous isn’t a bad choice.